BJP’s new president: generational shift
The five-time MLA from Jharkhand, 44-year-old Nitin Nabin, is the new national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). His elevation to the highest post in the BJP is indeed a generational shift, as he happens to be the youngest president so far. Interestingly, he was born in 1980, the same year the BJP was founded. He is the 12th in line and the youngest so far, as most of the previous presidents were much older than him. This marks a generational shift in the party’s organisational leadership and reflects the BJP’s stated position that disciplined, dedicated, and dynamic workers can rise to the top.
Indeed, Nabin is a product of the BJP’s cadre-based political culture. He has risen through the ranks as an organisational functionary rather than being one of the well-known faces in the party who were bypassed in his election.
His persona as well as his skills are both grounded. He is known for booth-level management, electoral strategy, and internal coordination rather than ideology or intellectual calibre to further the party’s cause. In a nutshell, the party has chosen a grassroots worker to streamline structure, discipline, and energy within the organisation. Though elected, he was an unopposed candidate, indicating that he had been chosen much earlier by none other than Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s declaration that, in party matters, Nabin would be his ‘boss’ was rich in symbolism but far from reality. While the statement reaffirmed the BJP’s position that there is a clear demarcation between the government and the organisation, in effect, as in the past, Nitin Nabin will have to work as per the direction of the senior leadership. The role of the BJP president in recent years has been clearly defined by the leadership, leaving little room for independent agenda-setting and emphasising execution over direction. It will be worth watching how Nitin takes the party forward at the national level and whether he can replicate what he did in his state-election management at the booth level. His immediate task will be to galvanise the party cadre for the upcoming elections in five Assembly segments.
JP Nadda, the outgoing president, faced several challenges during his tenure. Taking charge in 2020, he oversaw the recalibration of federal politics after the abrogation of Article 370 and several Assembly elections. Under his watch, the BJP expanded its footprint in the Northeast but failed to make inroads in West Bengal and the South, which will now be Nabin’s biggest challenge.
The question of why no heavyweight leader occupies this ‘plum post’ is revealing. In present times, the BJP’s party presidency is less about providing direction and more about coordination. The management and coordination of the organisation are being entrusted to leaders seen as loyal, efficient, and non-threatening. Since the BJP is a disciplined party, there may not be any public dissent over Nitin’s election, but several deserving candidates have certainly been bypassed. The BJP, like its opponent the Congress, is increasingly being run from the top down rather than the other way round.
